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We have had record high temps and low snowfall this year in the Boston area but that hasn’t stopped me from daydreaming of lake trips and sunshine. We are definitely getting a touch of cabin fever around here!

So I warmed up my scrap room with a little Wave Searcher from Fancy Pants this week… if I can’t be at the beach at least I can scrap it!

I must have been psychic to know my son’s board shorts would match this line perfectly.

I used very few matching embellishments on this, but cut the paper to add some fun. My large photo is under the straight line of the wave and I used my craft knife to nestle the journaling spot in the crest.

I also added some rounded chipboard banner bits along the side of my photo, tied with twine. I like that these look decorative but not really like your typical banner. The sun was cut from the journaling card sheet and pop dotted for dimension.

::sigh:: And we have actual, real, cold snow coming on Thursday so this page is about as close to warm sand as I will be getting for a while!! If you need a little sun and surf check out more of Wave Searcher!

I will admit that these She Art products from Christy Tomlinson for Pink Paislee kinda intimidated me when I first saw them. All those patterns and colors! They are too fun to NOT play with, however, so I took the plunge last week and cooked up a couple of cards for my first post on the Pink Paislee blog.

I used a couple of quotes for inspiration but also made it a goal to create two cards that were very www.pinkpaislee.com/2012/02/quotes-she-art-cards-two-ways/different in style.

My first uses the Parisian Anthology dress form, which was the perfect model for the chipboard and scallop trimmed wings. My quote “Alis volat propriis” is Latin and translates to “She flies with her own wings”. I find those words both beautiful and inspiring.

With the large piece of vintage crocheted lace and all the romantic, feminine touches this card feels really warm and sweet. My second card has a totally different vibe. I wanted to do something clean and simple for my second example. The quote here is “Every day is the start of something beautiful”. Taken literally I interpreted that as each day beginning with a glorious sunrise.

I think one might have... because I never do double page layouts and that is exactly what I have for you today! When I saw that I was assigned a double pager at Right at Home Scrapbooking this month I nearly had a heart attack. I've probably done four or five of these over the course of my entire scrapping life.

And THEN I noticed that I got to use a sketch. YAY! This is probably the most I have ever appreciated sketches because it made this double pager genuinely fun and easy to do. If you are afraid (like me!) of double page layouts you should definitely give this a try. I loved the change of pace. And if you are a double page diva this sketch will be a breeze for you!

The sketch: My take: I kept my design very close to the sketch, with a few minor changes. This is my favorite double pager ever! It doesn't hurt that I adore these photos. I used the fabulous Paper Heart collection from Crate Paper for pretty much everything on here, except some alphas, paint, and bits of twine.

Here are the sides closer up:

How adorable are the Scrabble looking letter tiles from this collection??

This sketch was awesome for lots of little layers. You can see here that I combined punched paper, stickers, chipboard, and stitching for lots of texture and depth.

So, I more than survived this double page. In fact... with a sketch this good I may just do it again!!

I’ve always heard that that statement has a big of a barbed meaning to my Southern friends. Being the Northerner that I am, well, it just makes me giggle. We’re a bit more forward and…shall we say… colorful? around here.

My card, however, has no tongue in cheek meaning. It’s all sweetness and sincerity when *I* say “bless your heart”. Not that I ever say that. I live in Massachusetts and say things like “sweet!” and “that’s wicked awesome!”.

You’re just going to have to take my word that I am being genuine with this one:

I’ve been busy working on something BIG lately! The past eighteen weeks, in fact.

No, I just couldn’t be satisfied with a million and one papercrafting projects. I needed one more thing to add to my chaotic life. And since my son is pretty much the most adorable child on the planet (no bias here at all!) we thought… hey, how about we make another one?!

Baby Girl is due July 20th and we could not be more stoked for her arrival! I really thought I was going to be having another boy so when we found out today that there is a little miss in there I was pleasantly stunned and I STILL can’t wrap my brain around it.

And I can’t believe I am about to confess this but I am stupid excited about *finally* getting to use girly, pink papers!!! Only a scrapbooker…

So you guys have been warned. There is going to be a whole lot of GIRL happening around here soon!

I’m a sucker for pretty much any holiday that allows me to do “extra fun stuff” and get crafty and Valentine’s Day is no exception. Mr. O got some special treats, a few new books, and a stuffed Apu Apu. Apu Apu is what he calls “Brown Bear, Brown Bear (What Do You See?)” from the Eric Carle book. Don’t ask me why!

My husband got a few little gifties too but mostly he looks forward to a special card or two from me and Owen (with Mama’s help).

This first one makes use (the only use??) of an ATC. I kept the background simple so the ATC wouldn’t get lost with all its embellishment:

And this one was from Owen to Daddy. We painted and stamped his handprints onto paper and I created the card around that:

I hope you all had a fantastic, love filled day! We had a special Valentine dinner and capped it off with chocolate covered strawberries… can’t really complain about that!

And finally I will leave you with a few shots of my love monster in his mama-made Valentine shirt. I got the template from Make it and Love it. Boys need awesome holiday shirts too!

My boy is two. He is now old enough to have a little party at his morning daycare and trade valentines with his tiny peeps. Cue me giggling wildly with glee!

I covered party favor Play-Doh cans with paper, put them in clear bags, and topped them with some hybrid bag toppers I whipped up in Photoshop.

“I like you DOUGH much!” I mean, really. That is some cute stuff right there.

And while I am sure his teacher and her assistant will appreciate the sentiment I sort of thought they might be tired of Play-Doh so I hooked them up with something slightly more sophisticated… and tasty.

Meanwhile… I received a delivery of roses today from Pierre!

I love getting tokens of affection from my husband. Except my husband’s name is RYAN! ::snort:: I just can’t help but wonder who got MY card and flowers and what she is thinking. LOL!

Only one more day to link up at Paper Issues for the love theme, so that’s what Im’a doin’!

I’ve been playing with Crate Paper’s Paper Heart line for Right at Home this month. This is one Valentine collection I could use every. single. year. I don’t do uber cutesy very well and a lot of love themed lines are pretty cutesy. THIS line is perfect. There is no mistaking that it’s a Valentine collection but it maintains classic images.

The mailbox came from the Target dollar spot and, honestly, I am lucky I even got to complete this project given my son’s mail obsession. His hero is apparently the mailman and anything mail related is quickly stolen and played with. Prying this mailbox out of his little hands did NOT make for a happy toddler!

I’m sort of lovin’ on the pop of bright green. I like a good Valentine pink as much as the next girl but an unexpected color makes things a bit more interesting, in my opinion.

I’m now taking bets on how long it takes Owen to reach this and completely destroy it…

I’m liking this valentine up to Paper Issues for the last few days of their love them and YOU should link some pretties up too! OR just go borrow some of the brilliant ideas already posted!

Vanessa Menhorn has a cute little class at Miss Art’s Papercrafting School right now all about creating luminaries from vellum. They’re super pretty and functional. I expanded on that idea after watching her video tutorials and used her measurements to create this little bag. All I did to modify her instructions was add twill ribbon handles and more twill around the inside edge to cover the staples.

This would make such lovely packaging for any small gift. It took very little time but is so much nicer than a boring old gift bag from the store! I love the idea of using these as luminaries but now we have two ways to make use of this great class from Vanessa!